Congress OKs 1-week bill to keep Homeland Security openWASHINGTON (AP) — Bordering on dysfunction, Congress passed a one-week bill late Friday night to avert a partial shutdown of the Homeland Security Department, as leaders in both political parties quelled a revolt by House conservatives furious that the measure left President Barack Obama's immigration policy intact. The final vote of a long day and night was a bipartisan 357-60 in the House, a little more than an hour after the Senate cleared ...

Leonard Nimoy, famous as Mr. Spock on 'Star Trek,' diesLOS ANGELES (AP) — In 1975, Leonard Nimoy published an autobiography with the defiant title, "I Am Not Spock." Two decades later, he bowed to fate with "I Am Spock," a revisionist sequel. But for Trekkies and even casual "Star Trek" viewers, Nimoy was always the coolly composed science officer with the pointed ears and an unwavering belief in logic. He played a variety of other stage and screen roles, wrote poetry and pursued photography, but ...

Tiny Missouri town mourns after gunman kills 7, then himselfKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Residents of a small southern Missouri town struggled to come to grips with the knowledge that one of their own had killed seven people in a spasm of violence that ended when the gunman shot himself to death on a rural county road. Joseph Jesse Aldridge, 36, went to four homes in the unincorporated town of Tyrone in Texas County late Thursday, killing relatives and neighbors but sparing two teenagers. He was later found...

Truck stalls on track before fiery train crash, 28 injuredOXNARD, Calif. (AP) — A commuter train slammed into a truck stuck on the tracks early Tuesday, sending three rail cars tumbling onto their sides and injuring 28 people in the fiery crash in California. The accident occurred around 5:45 a.m. about 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Four people, including the train engineer, had critical injuries. The truck driver was found disoriented 1 or 2 miles away, said Jason Benitez, an assistant chief of...

Feds say Wal-Mart was biased against lesbiansBOSTON (AP) — A federal agency says Wal-Mart discriminated against a lesbian employee who sought health coverage for her ailing wife and has ordered "a just resolution" for violating her civil rights. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ordered the retail giant to work with Jacqueline Cote of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who hopes the determination will help her pay off $100,000 in medical bills. In a Jan. 29 EEOC ruling, obtained ...

Wal-Mart driver appeals in bid to delay Morgan crash suitNEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A Wal-Mart driver involved in a highway crash that killed a comic and severely injured actor-comedian Tracy Morgan has asked a judge to reconsider her decision not to delay Morgan's lawsuit against the company. Truck driver Kevin Roper isn't a defendant in Morgan's lawsuit against Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., but he wants to intervene to delay it from moving forward until his criminal case is resolved. He filed h...

Storm could bring snow, ice, sleet to Oklahoma, ArkansasOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A winter storm moving into Oklahoma and headed east is forecast to bring a mix of snow, sleet and ice to parts of Oklahoma and much of Arkansas starting Sunday, making travel hazardous and possibly disrupting power supply. A cold front bringing subfreezing temperatures to the region moved into northern Oklahoma early Saturday afternoon, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Sellers in Tulsa. With highs in...

Superstition times 3: 2015 calendar has 3 Friday the 13thsLACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Get ready for superstition — times three. Friday is the first of three Friday the 13ths this year. Each year has at least one Friday the 13th, but there can be as many as three. 2012 was the last year with three Friday the 13ths; the next will be 2026. Here's a look at the mysterious date through the eyes of a numerals-obsessed educator who calls himself Professor 13; a British journalist moving her family to a new ...

3 top Grammys now staying with Sam SmithSomewhere in England sits a man who was the unwitting inspiration for the biggest winner at the Grammy Awards. He's the man who loved, and dumped, 22-year-old British soul singer Sam Smith. Smith's yearning hit, "Stay With Me," won Grammys for song and record of the year and he was named best new artist three of the four biggest awards the Grammys present each year. His album "In the Lonely Hour" won best pop vocal album, but lost to Beck for ...

Police: 5 dead, including gunman, in Georgia shootingDOUGLASVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Five people are dead, including the gunman, after a shooting in a subdivision west of Atlanta that also left two children injured, police said. Authorities arrived at the Douglasville subdivision of two-story homes, about 20 miles west of Atlanta, after receiving a 911 call around 3 p.m., Douglas County Sheriff's Lt. Glenn Daniel said. Daniel said a man came to a house and shot his ex-wife and several children. Police ...

Commuter train strikes vehicle on tracks, killing 6VALHALLA, N.Y. (AP) — A commuter train slammed into a sport utility vehicle stuck on the tracks Tuesday evening, killing 6 people, mostly on the train, and injuring at least 12 others, authorities said. The northbound train struck a Jeep Cherokee at a railroad crossing in Valhalla, about 20 miles north of New York City, Metro-North Railroad spokesman Aaron Donovan said. Killed were the SUV's driver and five people aboard the train, he said. Th...

Storm threatens Northeast with historic snow NEW YORK (AP) — Cities big and small along the Philadelphia-to-Boston corridor of more than 35 million people began shutting down and bundling up Monday against a powerful and potentially historic storm that could unload 1 to 3 feet of snow. More than 5,000 flights were canceled, schools and businesses planned to close early, and cities mobilized snowplows and salt spreaders, getting ready for a dangerously windy blast that could instantly mak...

Westerman appointed to House Natural Resources SubcommitteesWASHINGTON — Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-Hot Springs) issued the following statement on his appointment to the Public Lands and Environmental Regulations Subcommittee and the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee under the House Committee on Natural Resources: “I want to thank Chairman Bishop for the privilege to serve on these two important subcommittees. With my new district office located within Hot Springs National Park — America’s ...

Obama in State of the Union: Tax wealthy, help middle classWASHINGTON (AP) — Refusing to bend to the new Republican Congress, President Barack Obama unveiled Tuesday night an ambitious State of the Union agenda steeped in Democratic priorities, including tax increases on the wealthy, education and child care help for the middle class and a torrent of veto threats for the GOP's own plans. In a shift from tradition, Obama's address to a joint session of Congress was less a laundry list of new proposals ...

Part of Ohio interstate to be shut for days after collapse CINCINNATI (AP) — A collapsed overpass covered southbound lanes of Interstate 75 with hundreds of tons of concrete and steel Tuesday, following a construction accident that killed a worker and injured a truck driver. The Ohio Department of Transportation said the busy artery through downtown Cincinnati will be closed at least two to three days. "The debris needs to be removed and we have to determine if there is damage to the pavement," spokes...

Obama celebrates MLK DayPresident Barack Obama participates in a service project at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington, to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and in honor of Dr. King’s life and legacy, on Monday, Jan. 19, 2015, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Kudzu bugs spread into DC area, southern Delaware, ArkansasNEW ORLEANS (AP) — The pea-sized bugs look a bit like ticks, can suck one-fifth of the yield out of a soybean field, and travel by highway. In the 5 1/2 years since they were first spotted in Georgia, kudzu bugs have spread 400 to 500 miles west and north — as far as Louisiana, Arkansas, Washington, D.C., and its suburbs, and southern Delaware. "We don't know any way to stop it," said Blake Layton, a Mississippi State University entomologist. ...

Police: 2 dead, 1 wounded in central Florida mall shootingMELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man had "several pockets full of ammunition" when he targeted his wife in a shooting Saturday morning that killed two people at a mall food court where the woman worked, police said. Authorities said the shooting happened about a half hour before the mall was to open to customers. Jose Garcia-Rodriguez, 57, of Palm Bay, died at a hospital following an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at Melbourne Square Ma...

Immigrants can now get Mexican birth certificates in US SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The Mexican government Thursday began issuing birth certificates to its citizens at its consulates in the United States to make it easier for immigrants to obtain U.S. work permits, driver's licenses and protection from deportation. Until now, Mexico has required its citizens to get birth certificates at government offices in Mexico. Many of those living in the U.S. ask friends and relatives back home to retrieve the p...

Appeals court rules Oklahoma executions can proceed OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal appeals court has denied a request by four Oklahoma death row inmates for a stay of execution, paving the way for the state's first lethal injection since a problematic execution in the spring. In a ruling Monday, a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver denied an emergency motion requested by the inmates for stays of execution. One of the attorneys for the death row inmates, Dale B...